SSD pricing may get more aggressive

This could cause SSD prices to deflate a little faster than expected. A year ago, we were at $2 per GB. Today, we’re around $1.25-$1.50 per GB, depending on capacity. A year ago, I expected us to reach $1 per GB late this year, based on the historical pricing of conventional hard drives. Aggression could cause prices to reach that level ahead of schedule. I still expect 50 cents/GB to happen in 2014 and 25 cents/GB in 2015 or 2016.

Of course, it’s possible that SSD pricing might begin to outpace HDDs. I noticed a correlation prior to this year, but flash memory is more profitable than DRAM, so memory makers have an incentive to ramp up flash memory in order to get more profitable. Plus, flash memory is used in more than just computers, so a greater economy of scale could eventually kick in.